


Truest Apologies

by mothercetrion



Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games), Mortal Kombat - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mental Breakdown, Trauma, theyve all been freshly revived and none of them are doing the best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-19 23:23:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19365802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothercetrion/pseuds/mothercetrion
Summary: Sektor had never felt so guilty in his life.





	Truest Apologies

**Author's Note:**

> y'all, this fic mentions the past deaths of every character mentioned in this fic. none of them are the best mentally, minus kuai liang who has been revived a while. i briefly discuss the struggles of their everyday lives, and i dive deeper into sektor's guilt over his hand in the cyberization of the lin kuei. heads up

None of the Lin Kuei boys were able to live well at first.

Kuai Liang had settled all of them—Bi-Han (and Saibot), Tomas, Cyrax, and Sektor—in his bedroom from the moment they arrived at the temple. All of them had their own cots to sleep on right near Kuai Liang’s bed; if they were unable to sleep, had a nightmare, or began to break down, then he would be right there for them. He knew that he often needed someone by his side to be at ease when he was revived. He wanted to be the most supportive that he could possibly be.

And he was.

Bi-Han was rarely able to get to sleep without assistance. He tried to keep his anguish to himself, but he frequently failed. Kuai Liang often let him vent his worries and fears and nightmarish thoughts to him until he was exhausted. He slept then, and only then, on most nights. He would wake in a fright, and Kuai Liang would wake up immediately. He had a sense, a vague feeling, that told him whenever his brother woke up. He would ease his panicking mind with firm words—“You are Bi-Han. Noob is gone. You’re okay. You’re gonna be okay.”—and a comforting hug. Bi-Han was usually quick to calm, but he was always clearly frazzled and was unable to go back to sleep quickly.

Tomas was often just working to convince himself that he did not need any assistance. He slept decently and rarely woke up, but when he did, he simply could not stop crying. Quiet, pained, agonizing sobs escaped him as Kuai Liang held him close. He dreamt of his torture in the Netherrealm, mostly, but he also dreamt of his narrow escape from cyberization. He dreamt of his best friends being forced into cyberization and living a hellish life with seemingly no escape or happiness. The thought of his best friends in danger scared him the most. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he would mumble into Kuai Liang’s chest. He felt guilty that he could not save them from cyberization; it haunted him. Kuai Liang always assured him that it was not his fault. It wasn’t. He was always left on edge the next morning, but he was quick to find himself in a good state. It was his coping mechanism, acting as if things weren’t awful, Kuai Liang assumed.

Cyrax did not sleep. At all. Not at first. Kuai Liang would wake with the others and see him awake and looking out the window. Kuai Liang saw fear in his eyes, all the time. He would help one of the others and sit next to him and offer him an ear to listen to. He just looked at him and would get teary-eyed, but he never let them fall. He would describe his life as a cyborg and the agony that came with it. He would say that his yellow, metal body haunted him when he closed his eyes for too long. He couldn’t bear to sleep. Kuai Liang would sit with him and talk through his feelings with him. It was easy for them to connect; they were both cyborgs and experienced the same thing. Cyrax never felt alone with Kuai Liang there.

But one of them refused to ask for help and never acted as he needed it… Sektor.

He acted okay when they all hung out. Never seemed to let his thoughts about being a cyborg get to him. He comforted others when they needed it, namely Cyrax, who was close with him and was a cyborg alongside him, but he always looked vaguely uncomfortable. He was on edge, always ready for something to jump out at him, to the most trained eyes. But his voice and his actions never reflected that. He acted as if his mind was in pristine condition. 

Kuai Liang knew it wasn’t the case. He had to be, at some level or another, traumatized. Only the most heartless of people could be revived or saved and not be traumatized. Sektor wasn’t heartless. Not even close.

Nearly two weeks went by. One evening, when the others were all training outside the temple and Sektor remained inside, Kuai Liang sat next to him and watched the others outside. It was hardly considered a serious training session; Tomas and Cyrax were trying to convince Saibot to trip Bi-Han at any given moment. They were all laughing and smiling. It was great fun.

“Not want to join them?” Kuai Liang asked with a small smile.

Sektor shook his head, his long hair swaying. He hadn’t worn it up since his restoration. “I wanted to sit out this time.”

“Next time, we both join?”

“For sure. I’m off my game.”

Kuai Liang chuckled to himself, but he then realized why he even sat down next to him in the first place.

Tomas was the first to come to him in fear for Sektor’s mental state. He was well aware that he and the others were not the best mentally, and he knew that no one who had ever been revived was perfect minded immediately. He knew that Sektor wasn’t in his prime. It was impossible. He refused to train, refused to hang out with the others like they insisted he did. He was not himself, and Tomas knew that. “He was one of my best friends. I don’t even know who he is now,” he had said.

Cyrax was the next to come to him. He said that he had seen Sektor alone in a corridor of the temple very late one eve, when he left the room to use the bathroom. He was sitting on the floor of the corridor and having a nervous breakdown into his palms. The second that he heard Cyrax’s footsteps, he jumped up and ran outside the temple, refusing to let him get close. Cyrax knew that his mind was not as good as he let on. He was scared for him.

The most concerned, by far, was Bi-Han. While Sektor washed up before dinner one evening, he came to his younger brother with worry all over his face. He was very close with Sektor before the tournament took place, and he was nothing like he was before the tournament. The Sektor he knew and cared about was very serious about training and staying in shape, and he was always there to encourage the other Lin Kuei to do the same. But upon their revival, Sektor was distant from the others. He wasn’t himself, not even close. Sektor refused to speak with Bi-Han like they had in the past; it felt as though they were strangers. Bi-Han believed that Kuai Liang was the only one that could reach him.

“Are you doing well, Sektor?” he asked after a few minutes of silence.

Sektor kept looking outside the temple. His shoulders went stiff. “Getting by,” he mumbled.

“Please don’t lie to me, Sektor.” Kuai Liang frowned at him. “I know your mind is racing. You are not unbreakable like you want to believe.”

“I’m fine, Kuai Liang.” Sektor looked away from the outside of the temple, hiding his face from the Grandmaster. “Please do not push it anymore.”

Kuai Liang remembered back to his own revival. Sometimes, being alone with his thoughts was just what he needed. So he dropped the topic and changed it to something else.

The rest of the evening went by smoothly. The others had been able to sleep better, and Kuai Liang went to sleep alongside them without a worry in the world.

But then he woke up when someone shook him awake. He was met with the sight of Sektor standing above him, shaking like a leaf in a storm. He was crying. Hard. 

“Sektor?” Kuai Liang sat up in a flash, concern all over his face. “Sektor, what’s wrong?”

He couldn’t speak. Sektor attempted to, but a strained sob forced itself out instead. Kuai Liang immediately climbed out of bed and grabbed one of his hands, pulling him towards the exit of the room. “Let’s go outside so the others don’t wake up. Come on.”

The two hurried out of the room and outside the temple. Snow fell in gentle flakes, despite it being springtime. The two sat on the concrete steps outside the temple, and Sektor raised his free hand to his eyes and hid them from sight. He let out another sob, his shoulders jerking.

“Sektor, talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong,” Kuai Liang said gently, leaning towards him and squeezing his hand. “You’re worrying me.”

Sektor forced in a breath and looked Kuai Liang in the eye. “I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“I—” Sektor choked back another sob, taking another deep breath. “I pushed for cyberization. I said it would be a-a good thing, a-and it wasn’t at all. It hurt you and it hurt Cyrax and—”

“You had no way of knowing that it would end like that, Sektor,” Kuai Liang assured. 

“I should’ve.” Sektor released Kuai Liang’s hand and turned himself away in shame. “I never imagined that it would be so awful… I-I let my best friends get traumatized over my own selfish needs. I can’t even think about it without wanting to break, and I can’t because it was my idea and I deserve to feel that pain. Cyrax doesn’t deserve to feel that. Seeing him break down… it hurts me so deeply.” He wiped fresh tears off of his cheeks. “I know it traumatized you too. You are one of my closest friends, and I hurt you.”

“Do you live with bad memories, Sektor?”

Sektor nodded. “Every day. It’s a nightmare every night, fear of technology and growth and the people who let me do that… It was so far from good, Kuai Liang.” He looked him in the eye then. He looked scared. “I feel so guilty. I can’t even be near my friends without feeling so horribly guilty.”

Kuai Liang lifted a hand and put it on his upper arm. “You never would have done that if you did not feel like it was for the better. Don’t feel guilty.”

“…You must hate me, surely. Cyrax too.”

“Neither of us do. Not even a little.” Kuai Liang rubbed his hand along his arm in a comforting fashion. “We worry about you. All of us. You are still one of our best friends. We know you would never put us through that on purpose.” He smiled softly. “We want you to come to us about your feelings, Sektor. We know you’re not coping well. No one is.”

Sektor looked down at his lap in shame. “I am already part of the reason that you experienced trauma… I do not want to be a burden. You have so much to deal with right now anyway.”

“You can always come to me. No matter what.” Kuai Liang squeezed his bicep, causing Sektor to look up. “Promise you’ll come to me in the future? And not let your guilt consume you? We care about you and love you, Sektor.”

Sektor smiled softly and nodded. “I promise. Thank you, Kuai Liang. I… I feel a lot better.”

Without another word, the two men hugged on the concrete steps of the temple. Kuai Liang rubbed his back in a comforting fashion when Sektor leaned all of his weight against his shoulder. He desperately needed that hug.

One day at a time, Kuai Liang knew. It would take one day at a time for things to be normal again.

But that was a good enough start for him.


End file.
